16 May 2014

I have a new
crypto history
paper out:
"Vernam, Mauborgne, and Friedman: The One-Time Pad and the Index of
Coincidence".
Here's the abstract:

The conventional narrative for the invention of the AT&T
one-time pad was related by David Kahn. Based on the evidence
available
in the AT&T patent files and from interviews and correspondence,
he concluded that Gilbert Vernam came up with the need for
randomness, while
Joseph Mauborgne realized the need for a non-repeating key.
Examination
of other documents
suggests a different narrative.
It is most likely that Vernam came up with the need for
non-repetition;
Mauborgne, though, apparently contributed materially to the
invention of the
two-tape variant. Furthermore, there is reason to suspect that
he suggested the need for randomness to Vernam.
However, neither Mauborgne, Herbert Yardley, nor
anyone at AT&T really understood
the security advantages of the true one-time tape. Col.&mbsp;Parker
Hitt
may have; William Friedman definitely did. Finally, we
show that Friedman's attacks on the two-tape variant
likely led to his invention of the index of coincidence, arguably
the single most important publication in the history of
cryptanalysis.